Cars that won’t let you doze at the wheel

Vehicle telematics — electronic gadgets monitoring and communicating all aspects of the vehicle, road conditions and navigation — is a novelty in India but could be a standard feature in vehicles in a few years.Rachel Chitra | TNN | August 31, 2017, 08:07 IST

With artificial intelligence built in, vehicle telematics can save lives after a major accident by calling 100 and alerting family members.CHENNAI: When a puncture stranded Arpita Mukherjee (name changed) on the Delhi-Kanpur highway at 10pm, she sat nervously in her car. There was no phone signal and she did not know how far the nearest fuel station was, but after maybe 20 minutes an assistance vehicle arrived.

A smart device fitted in Arpita’s car had alerted her family about the tyre pressure and location via satellite-based communication.

Vehicle telematics — electronic gadgets monitoring and communicating all aspects of the vehicle, road conditions and navigation — is a novelty in India but could be a standard feature in vehicles in a few years.

As cellular networks become faster and cheaper, the feature list will also grow longer to include monitoring of driver safety, fuel consumption, etc. Take driver safety, for instance.

An overworked cabbie nodding off behind the wheel is a common occurrence, but telematics can prevent it. “The software detects eye blinks, yawning and facial expressions and triggers alerts on a smartwatch or on a panel using facial analysis,” Infosys’ head of engineering services Sudip Singh told TOI.

IT majors like Infosys, HCL, Cognizant and Wipro have been providing advanced telematics solutions to foreign insurance companies like AIG, Allianz, Axa and Munich Re for almost a decade.

Vehicle telematics can help save lives

Driver safety is the main appeal of telematics at present, said Sourabh Chatterjee, head-IT digital marketing, direct marketing and web sales at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. “If you are in an emergency and need help or you meet with an accident and lose consciousness, information can be transmitted immediately,” he said.

Suresh Ramdas, an IT professional in Pune, had used vehicle telematics while working in the US, so he wanted it for his elderly parents who depend on a driver to get around town. “I wanted to have details like vehicle location, speed, etc,” Ramdas said.

He got a device with Bajaj Allianz’ DriveSmart policy. “I was initially apprehensive and manually checked the speed, distance travelled, etc. But, after a few tests I was impressed as the machine was accurate 99% of the time.”

With artificial intelligence built in, vehicle telematics can save lives after a major accident by calling 100 and alerting family members. In minor accidents, it helps speed up the claims process by capturing photo and video evidence.

Another insurer, ICICI Lombard, is looking (not promoting - it’s a pilot) at using telematics as a traffic beating tool for truckers. Turn-by-turn directions ensure a long container vehicle does not cause a hold-up trying to reverse or while making a U-turn.

“Telematics can also alert drivers who deliver to hotels, ports or construction sites with fixed entries and exits,” said Sanjay Datta, chief underwriter, ICICI Lombard.

At present, truckers have no way of knowing if a road is too narrow for entry, has been made one-way or dug up for pipe-laying.

With all these features, telematics could help make insurance policies cheaper for safe drivers, but existing rules won’t allow it, said insurers.

However, there is hope as insurance regulator IRDAI only last week initiated a debate around the subject. “Premiums are being charged based on available information related to limited parameters. If accurate information and more relevant data are available, premium can be worked out more scientifically, commensurate with the risks involved,” it said.